The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) parliamentary leader, John Steenhuisen has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to condemn what he says is Deputy President David Mabuza’s failure to condemn the gross human rights abuses of members of the LGBTQI community in Uganda.
Mabuza had on Thursday responded to a question from a DA MP on whether he would condemn human rights abuses across Africa by saying South Africa cannot impose its values on other countries.
He added that the decent thing would be to keep our mouths shut.
Steenhuisen says as a leader on the continent, South Africa should be a vocal champion of human rights.
“It is not acceptable for the 2nd in charge of our country to so fundamentally fail the test of constitutional requirements to uphold human rights and human dignity. This is especially made worse by the fact that the president has tasked DD Mabuza with advising him on how to ensure greater democracy on the African continent as the leader of government business. What the president needs to do now is unequivocally condemn the failure of his deputy to speak out against these human rights abuses.”
